Broncos safety T.J. Ward was left off the NFL’s top 100 list. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
The Broncos’ secondary didn’t need any more motivation for 2015. But their fellow players just provided them plenty.
Safety T.J. Ward and cornerbacks Chris Harris and Aqib Talib were all left off the NFL’s 2015 top 100, a list voted on by their fellow players.
“I was talking to Talib about the upcoming season and how they left all three of us off the top 100, so we have a little chip on our shoulders,” Ward said Monday at his foundation’s celebrity golf tournament in Aurora. “We didn’t appreciate that. And that’s from our peers.”
Many players, , took to Twitter during the NFL’s unveiling of the list to express their bafflement by the omission of Harris, who was as the league’s top cornerback.
“If you grade out No. 1 by Pro Football Focus and you’re all-pro,” Talib said, “you definitely had to be one of the top 100 players.”
According to his peers, though, Seattle’s Richard Sherman was the NFL’s best cornerback and was ranked No. 11 among all players on the top 100 list. Darrelle Revis (No. 17), Patrick Peterson (19), Joe Haden (23) and Brent Grimes (38) rounded out the top five at their position.
Seattle’s Earl Thomas (No. 21) and Kam Chancellor (41) were the only safeties voted in the top 50.
“There were a couple of guys on there, we looked and thought maybe he made it because of his name,” Talib said. “I don’t know if he made it because of his play, because Pro Football Focus said his play wasn’t all that. But you know how that goes. We’ll make them put us on there next year.”
Ward and Talib weren’t willing to go so far as to say where they thought they belonged on the list. After all, it’s just that: an arbitrary list.
“We don’t play the season to be on the top 100 list,” Talib said.
And being left off has its benefit: more fuel.
“Yeah,” he said. “Definitely.”
